Hollywood or Physics?

I'm working on a game with several different types of vehicles, such as cars and aircraft. And one thing i notice is that theres a large difference between how things behave in movies and how they behave in the real world.

Now my dillema is, do I base the behaviour of my vehicles on real-world physics, or hollywood physics. While i thought at first that real is always better, i'm now thinking that hollywood is obviously far more entertaining than the real world, and that the majority of people may actually believe hollywood physics to be the way things truely should react, so anything that deviates from that now ironically feels unreal?

What are your thoughts?

 

First whats the theme of your game like. Or i shall say style. If you look around the showcase forum, you can see realistic graphics as well as cartoony games. Which IMO all have game mechanics/physics suited to their needs of their game. If you are looking for more realism, Real physics but if you want some exaggeration. Like fly throught rings of fire and some random cool stuff. Hollywood physics.

Though i have no idea by what you meant hollywood physics. But realism do have it's selling point.

 

Well, my theme is quick war. Bombing, shooting, etc. No hoops or anything, but its not a flight simulator.

By hollywood physics i mean things like say in a plane. When a plane turns at a 90 Degree angle, in the real world this would mean that it would begin to fall as it no longer has any wing lift, in movies they appear to just carry on going forward at the same alltitude.
So from what i understand planes are never really able to turn while remaining at the same altitude, how they actually turn is by first rolling a little, and counter acting the fall by lifting up. So they plane is falling and being lifted at the same time, keeping it steady, while allowing it to turn. So to turn more at a smaller radius, you have to roll more while also lifting more.

However i think if you put this into any ordinary game thats primary purpose isn't just flying planes, it might not be expected and so feel very difficult to play, especially if the player had just been driving a car or truck, where you don't have to worry about any of that.

Or am i simply over thinking everything and should just make a game that is fun to play and assume the players can figure it out? Because i'm a communications and business graduate, i've always been taught to assume your audience know absolutely nothing on any subject. Maybe in games i can assume a bit more intelligence on the player side?

 

In video games, fun is always better than realistic.

 

Realistic games are called simulation. I think you can strike a balance between the both. Just don't make it too realistic. It wouldn't feel any great playing your game.

 

If I wanted a realistic car driving experience, I'd go drive my dang car. Games should mirror, not simulate, reality. If realism is a goal in your game design, then either you're making a flight simulator, or you need to refresh your memory on what "fun" means.

 

You should be aware that "realistic" doesn't ever FEEL realistic on computers.

This principle holds even for the simplest things like a falling ball. If you give a computer the perfect maths for a falling ball that bounces, it will not quite seem realistic.

This is because of sensory deprivation. In real life, a number of different lighting conditions, the wind in your face, sound around you, and the ability to touch and smell all contribute to a feeling of realism.

In game, if you're going to drive a car bear in mind:

1. you aren't in a car, you're at a computer
2. you're not constrained to the chair with a seatbelt, nor in a confined space
3. you don't have peripheral vision, nor the ability to flick your eyes around
4. the car in real life responds to gravity, suspension, g forces and so on which feels different

So in the event you did model everything physically accurate, it wouldn't feel accurate. The fake hollywood one would feel more accurate.

 

Ya, i didn't mean for it to mimic a simulator, just sometimes something will act in one way in real life, yet that reaction is completely overlooked in hollywood movies. Think everyones seen in every movie there are scenes where the physics is so unreal you wonder who actually believes thats possible, but still doesn't stop it from being entertaining, like the A-Team for example.

I think the best aproach however is the hollywood one, and just tweak things to improve gameplay rather than realism.

 

Not everyone can jump in their warplane whenever they want to experience it.

 

Personally, I hate when reality pokes it's unwanted nose in when I am trying to escape from it.

 

I still think reality is important to make a game feel more fun. Games are fun because they're difficult, and realism adds difficuly. However i think its important to remove the tedious bits only. So if you're making a driving game, make the car react like it would in reality when turning, breaking, accelerating, etc, however just don't add a Clutch and tyre wear (unless its an important element of the compettition, such as in F1).
And in real life you can't drive 200mph in a public road or crash your £300k sports car in order to make a tigher turn, which is why games can still be fun even if they are bordering on simulations. You do things that common sense would stop you from in the real world.

 

I agree on what moodiesw have to say. Realism is like a basis that we all follow to make a game believable. Though not every aspect of our known reality is put into making a game.

Some form of realism like gun recoil. Jerking of cameras. Car crashing. Whatever form of small effects which makes player think there are in the situation are good.

Imagine GTA but without realism. Would be like a giant physics ragdoll game. Bang into people, they practically fly. So realism to a certain extent. Exaggerate a bit if needed.

 

I suppose realistic to a point, but no such so that it becomes a hindrance to a gameplay. Imagine if you were playing a game driving down the highway and all of sudden there was a huge traffic jam and you are stuck in traffic for an hour.

 

Lol, that actually sounds like it would be quite a funny easter egg